Sipdown!
This seems to be the same tea as Grizzly Brown, and I would have reviewed it there but it was in my cupboard the way the flake came labeled….as Grizzly Bear. One tasting note under Grizzly Brown does refer to this tea as Grizzly Bear so I think they must be the same.
A twenty second rinse yielded really pale color. Making this western style, the thirty second steep was much darker but not inky black like a lot of shu can get.
The aroma is so clean and fresh. Color is now much like any black tea. Fills the mouth with a menthol or camphor coolness, fresh clean dirt, under-the-house crawlspace vibes, not much of the heavy barn manure and horse tack aroma. Lots of mineral.
I had my usual half serving of oatmeal with honey and cardamom for breakfast and was starving already at 9:30 am, so I am having a slice of pound cake and this tea. I am pretending that the tea is so healthy that it will whisk away all the calories and consequences and erase all traces of this cake from my upcoming bloodwork. I can dream, can’t I?
Welp, I guess the first piece of cake was too small. Still peckish so I cut an even smaller slice and resteeped, again about thirty seconds, maybe less.
I am steeping in a Stump pot and decanting into a sterling pot that is under a chandelier. As I pour, the color changes from orange to ruby red to deep blood red as the light reflects from the bottom of the pot. That color was worth the price of admission right there.
The tea in my cup looks dark brown, though! Now the earthiness has amplified and the mineral taste has faded. Now we are in an open barn where my grandfather stored hay and had a stall for a mule that grandmother used for ploughing the corn fields. The manure and barn scents are there, but there is a fresh breeze blowing through the barn. As the tea cools in the cup, the fresh minty lift of menthol is back.
I will steep again later because these leaves clearly have more to give.
This is less oily and mouth-coating than my beloved Mengku Palace but very nice. It isn’t super comolex but it is very enjoyable and I think this tea would be a great introduction to shu puerh. I often use puerh as an introduction to tea for people who say they really only drink coffee, and it has failed to capture them.
Thanks to looseTman for inspiring me to get out some shu and thanks to White Antlers who sent me this tea. (I think, and if I am wrong about where it came from, please forgive me!)
